OvermanKingGainer
#BennettFreed #CurseofTheSpulll #FreeOliver
I'm curious though, where do you guys give credit for the turnaround the flame have had this season? Do you give a lot of credit to Burke? To previous managers? Who is the architect of your success this season?
Not much credit goes to Burke at all, and he wouldn't take it.
Darryl Sutter / Todd Button / Scouting Staff get credit for:
Improving the team's drafting department. He really brought in a structure and tried to get us caught up to other teams, though it was too-late for him to see the rewards.
Mark Giordano
TJ Brodie
Michael Backlund
Lance Bouma
Joni Ortio
Matt Stajan
I'll also add Curtis Glencross in there as he was a bit contributor in November on the Monahan line.
Jay Feaster / Todd Button / Scouting Staff get credit for:
Improving drafting further and really getting a system in place for making good draft choices especially deeper into the draft. They changed the philosophy, hired an outside firm and brought in:
Bob Hartley
Kris Russell
Jiri Hudler
Dennis Wideman
Paul Byron
David Jones
Karri Ramo
Johnny Gaudreau
Sean Monahan
Marcus Granlund
Michael Ferland
Josh Jooris
And a slew of prospects who didn't really contribute yet but are a big part of the future.
Brian Burke gets credit for:
getting rid of Reto Berra
Joe Colborne, most likely. Though Feaster brought him in technically.
Current GM Brad Treliving for:
Keeping Todd Button and Bob Hartley
Getting TJ Brodie locked up at a bargain
Jonas Hiller
Deryk Engelland (who, when on the right pairing, has looked... pretty okay despite his overall brutal +/-)
Drew Shore (hasn't really broken through, but he's still a good contributor when he's in the lineup)
David Schlemko (HUGE pickup)
Raphael Diaz (for a depth / #7D pretty much was a mainstay for most of the season)
David Wolf (hasn't really been a big part of this year's team, but he's still an awesome signing)
...and I suppose Brandon Bollig and Mason Raymond. They're still my whipping boys but they had a good game today.
It's crazy, but even through years of weak drafting, Todd Button is one of the longest tenured Flames staff members. Firing him could have been the easy solution, but instead we saw him and his staff get better and better as they were given better tools and philosophies through all these GMs.
So overall, Feaster is the architect of this team, with a few holdovers from the Sutter era that he could have gotten rid of but chose not to. Treliving's additions certainly turned out to be pretty decent after all, but he didn't really change the team much other than give some defensive depth and a goaltending tandem to rely on.
In a recent Season Ticket Holders meeting, Burke said that the credit goes to four people specifically for this team's success:
Jay Feaster
Mark Giordano
Bob Hartley
Brad Treliving
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